Review by Nagesh Havanur
There are tournaments and tournaments and the annual Biel chess competition is more than a tournament. It’s a festival open to one and all, be it a chess professional or an amateur. The event has an edition for every level of player, suitable for his or her standard.
The triathlon, though, is for stronger players and this year it was won Levon Aronian (featured on the cover of this issue).
Tournament reports often focus on the success of the winner and the performance of others close behind him is overlooked. In this issue, however, they receive a lot of recognition. Young Suleymanli came second and here he analyses his game with Le Quang Liem.
Le Quang Liem had won this Biel Chess Festival Tournament for three consecutive years before. This time he shared the third place with Yagiz Erdogmus. He did not do too badly. Here is a game analysed by the winner himself.
That still leaves open the question, “How did Aronian win this tournament?” At the Prize Distribution Ceremony he admitted laughingly, “I did not dream of winning against these young monsters.” The genial grandmaster, now in mid-forties has a sunny temperament and unlike more ambitious players does not try to win every tournament. This sober, pragmatic approach earned him dividends in the Biel Competition. He was relaxed and he took his chances when he saw them over the board. On occasion he took crazy risks and managed to win even from lost positions. The following game is a fine example:
As in the game with Suleymanli that we saw, Aronin experimented in the opening so that his opponent would be on his own. A case in point is a rare line in the French Defence that he tried against Bluebaum. I think, Black could try a principled continuation against this line:
The Battle of Norway
The brief report on Norway 2026 focuses on Magnus Carlsen’s poor form rather than the incredible performance of Praggnanandhaa who scored win after win after six rounds and two consecutive losses. Magnus lost to three opponents, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So and Praggnanandhaa. Here is one of them analysed by Anish Giri:
In fairness to Magnus he did not do as badly as shown in the tournament table. Here is his win over the same opponent:
However, It was Pragg’s performance that proved decisive in the end. Magnus himself was generous in his opinion of the young player.
“I am a fan,” Carlsen said. “I love watching him. He plays in a very aggressive way. He manages to put pressure on basically everybody, including myself.”
(Interview, The Hindu, 11 September 2026)
Opening Surveys
There are as many as 10 articles on the openings ranging from the Sicilian to the Slav. Among others two deserve special attention. The first is the analysis of the Alekhine-Chatard Attack (C13-C14) by Sergey Grigoriants. At first sight it appears that there is no easy way to meet White’s offensive. However, Black can try a sideline that may solve his problems:
The second is a deep analysis of the Marshall Gambit against the Semi-Slav (D31) by Bàlazs Csonka. Here we have only room for an important encounter from the Candidates’ Tournament early this year:
Opening videos
There are 3 opening videos in this issue. The first of them is on the Saemisch Variation of the Nimzo-Indian (E24) by Ivan Sokolov. The second is on the English Defence (A40) by Danny King. The third is on the Exchange Variation of the Grünfeld Defence (D85) by Mihail Marin.
Take your pick.
Besides opening surveys, this issue has standard features on tactics, strategy and the endgame.
Endgame Play
In the regular column “Fundamental Endgame Knowledge” Karsten Müller offers a video lecture on the queen versus two minor pieces.
In his series on the fortress theme Dorian Rogozenco offers a video lecture on opposite-coloured bishops with one side having two pawns.
This section also offers a column, “Readers write” in which we find contributions on the endgame by Zoran Petronijevic, Chris Edwards, Ingo Althoefer and Markus Hochgraefe.
Summing up
The main database of the issue has 2911 games of which 18 are deeply annotated. There is much else in this DVD that deserves to be explored. Among the commentators I would like to make a special mention of Alvar Alonso Rosell. His annotations are deep and detailed, full of insight. It may be noted that there are more annotated games in the opening and training sections of this issue. Well, practice makes perfect.
Links:
1)Biel Chess Festival:
https://www.bielchessfestival.ch/Homepage.html
2)Norway Chess